


The Ride Home

by justanoutlaw



Series: Femslash February 2021 [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29127201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanoutlaw/pseuds/justanoutlaw
Summary: Lily picks Emma up from prison and contemplates their next step.
Relationships: Lily | Lilith Page/Emma Swan
Series: Femslash February 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137281
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	The Ride Home

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 1 of Femslash February: sunsets/sleeping/shadows

The sky is a cornucopia of colors as Lily pulls the bug into the gas station. Hot pinks, cantaloupes and sweet sunflowers envelope through the clouds, indication the end of a long day. Sleep tugs on Lily’s eyes, a yawn escaping her lips. They’ve been driving for 2 hours and aren’t even close to their destination. She glances over at Emma. Her childhood friend is curled up against the window, clinging to the borrowed oversized gray sweatshirt in her sleep. Lily’s heart swells, the darkness lightening just a bit, how it does every time Emma is by her side.

She’s screwed it up every time, she’s not going to this time.

Lily drags her ass out of the car and feeds the machine her card. She fumbles open the fuel cap, sticking the nozzle in. They should’ve just flown She could’ve scraped together the cash somehow. Another part of her knows that the bug wasn’t negotiable. Emma has just spent 11 months in prison. She needs something familiar.

It was a few months ago when she got the call and made the original trip down to Phoenix. Emma sat across the table, wearing a hideous gray jumpsuit. The bags under her green eyes aged her tremendously and her stomach bulged from something more than just pop tarts.

There was a guy, one that hurt Emma more than Lily ever had. He had promised Emma forever, then let her take the fall for his crimes. Lily hates him, but she’s angry with Emma too. She should’ve known better than to trust him.

Had Lily taught her nothing?

In spite of it all, Lily felt for her. While Emma always brought Lily light, she had been through so much darkness. She leaned on the one person who could help her.

Now there was a baby, one Emma knew she couldn’t keep. She loved it, that much she knew. But she also knew she loved it enough to let it go. Lily didn’t ask much about that, especially once she heard Emma was giving it up for adoption. That wasn’t why Emma had wrote her.

No, Emma needed her. She missed her. And she wanted a familiar face, someone to be there when she walked out of prison. Her boyfriend was gone. Her baby would be with a new family. Emma just wanted some constant.

Lily debated saying no. She had been doing fine on her own. She knew the darkness inside of her, the one Emma’s parents had shoved into her, was no joke. There was a chance she could hurt Emma again.

But looking in those green eyes, she knew that she couldn’t walk away. Not again.

So, she relocated to Arizona. She got a job, an apartment. With Emma’s instructions, she picked up the bug and fixed it up.

Lily was there the day the baby was born. She huddled Emma in her arms so she’d never lay eyes on him, her wish.

She sobbed when Emma was hauled back to prison.

The red numbers flash crazily in front of Lily’s eyes. Eventually, she yanks the nozzle away and shoves it back into place. She sleepily walks into the mini-mart, purchasing a box of pop tarts, an Apollo bar and two Cokes. Her shadow dances in front of her as she walks back to the bug. Emma’s rolled over in her sleep, her back to the window.

Lily thinks of the crappy apartment waiting for them. The job that barely pays the rent. Emma doesn’t have one and it’ll be hard with her record. They’re still just two broke kids with no education. Lily doesn’t even know what they are. Friends? Former enemies? Girlfriends? There’s no label yet.

But today starts the rest of their lives. Whatever they’re going to hold.

Lily opens the driver side door and slides into her seat. She props the snacks against the gear shift and glances back at Emma. Her eyes half open and she opens her mouth, then shuts it again.

“We’re almost home, Em,” Lily whispers, pushing some of her blonde curls from her face. She presses a kiss to her forehead, letting out a content sigh. “Almost home.”


End file.
